Simon
by PureTorture97
Summary: Simon AU. I don't like Simon being such a whimp all of the time. So here's something new, why is Simon so protective of River. And just what happened when he was trying to get her out.
1. River

I own nothing

River's P.O.V.

They think they know my ğeğe, they don't.

The Captain and Jayne think of Simon as a pansy doctor from the Core, but they do not look closer.

Inara sees more than most, but she does not analyze what she learns. She will not see him as he truely is.

Zoe does not bother with him much, and Wash is almost always confined to the bridge so he does not get to satisfy his curiosity about my brother.

Shepard...he is a man of mystery himself. He does not ask questions because he does not know if he truely wants the answers. And if he begins to question others they may begin to question him.

And Kaylee...she is blinded to him...as she is with most of us I suppose. She sees the sunshine and goodness that is on the surface of people. Therefore she does not see much further into people.

What they all fail to see in my brother is the fierce warrior that hides beneath the shiny surface. When he tells the story he says "money and luck" are what helped him save me...but they are not the only things.

He is my golden warrior, my protector, my best friend. And he is afraid that if he lets into his warrior side he will be shaming his healer side.

He screams in his sleep.

The things he saw in the Academy, before they presented me to him. The things done to me in the Academy. The things he did, learned, and said during his battle to come for me. They tear up his mind while he sleeps, because in his dreams he has no defence.

What the crew of the Firefly Serenity has yet to discover about my brother... is that because he was raised in the Core, land had to live by their rules. He knows many things: how to wield a sword, and human anatomy.

This knowledge and much more is what makes him dangerous...and he hates himself for it.


	2. Simon

_A uthors Note_

 _I want to believe that Simon isn't the complete pansy he is potrayed as. With this in mind here is Simon's P.O.V. during Objects in Space._ _An AU of course._

Simons P.O.V.

Standing in the cargo bay, I listen to the quite sounds of Serenity as her passengers sleep.

River is having a good night. Maybe I am actually helping now. But I shouldn't have to help her. If I'd protected her like I was supposed to we wouldn't be here right now.

I wouldn't be standing in the middle of a ships cargo bay a fugitive.

Sighing softly I realize that meditating is not going to work to clear my mind tonight. Katas it is then, grabbing the sword I picked up last time we were onworld I start working through the proper motions.

As loathe as I am to pick up a sword again I fear that I may need it soon. I feel like something is coming.

After working through through the Katas and using Jayne's equipment I finally feel the sleep start to creep in.

After dozing for a while I startle awake thinking I've heard something from outside my bunk. Sighing I drag myself out of bed to investigate.

Nothing, that's odd.

The next thing I know I am faced with a mad man. This man reeks of insanity. He smells of anger and death. This is why I've been feeling as if somethign bad was going to happen. Jubal Early.

As he forces me to walk through Serenity looking for my sister I can't help but wish I'd grabbed a shirt before leaving my bunk.

*time skip*

Hearing River say that she is unwanted and in the way, I feel my heart clench. I've failed her again. No, I will not let this man touch my sister. My mind made up I start to think about what I've observed about the bounty hunter.

If I hit him hard enough in the right place I can stop his heart... oh how I hate that I am using the knowledge I gained to save lives with the purpose of taking one. But I have no choice.

Hearing River tell Early that she'd be his bounty was all the motivation I needed. As he turned to walk away I took my chance.

In the blink of an eye I stepped towards him, he turned around, and I struck. The heel of my palm connected with his solar plexas swiftly followed by my heal. But as my leg returned to the floor Early's gun ran out tearing through my thigh.

Stunned I look down at my leg thinking back to the lie I had told Early when he was rambling about how surgeons should have to receive an injury and be operated upon.

My thoughts slow down enough for me to realize that Early had walked away. Shaking my head I wondered how far the man would make it before his heart gave out.

Slamming into the lockers I dig for something to bind my leg with. As I'm digging I hear footsteps. Quickly followed by a string of curses and a gasp of horror.

By the sounds of it Zoe and Wash had joined me on the bridge.

*skip to the infirmary*

Exhausted I close my eyes, carefully giving Zoe detailed instructions on how to fix my leg. If the bullet had been just a bit lower I could have done the gorram thing myself.

Even with my eyes closed I can feel everyones eye staring at me. All except River, she refuses to enter the infirmary until she can no longer see my blood.

It going to be a long night...day whatever.

After Zoe finishes applying the bandage to my leg River flings herself through the wall of people in the doorway. She clings to my neck telling me that she is sorry, that she knew that I wanted her, that she could of handled Early without me having to call on Warrior Simon. Then she starts to scold me for being shot and telling me that red is not my color.

As she straightened up she handed me a shirt. Giving her what little of a smile I could muster I lean forward to slip it over my head. Zoe and Wash had already glimpsed my back while the others have really only seen my chest, so I payed them little mind. Sitting back exhaustion began to take hold of me, looking over at River she gave me a sad smile and just nodded. Nodding back I give in and let the blackness overtake me.


	3. After: Everyone else's POV

Mal's P.O.V.

Dragging my hand down my face I sit at the table in the galley thinking about what just happened.

Serenity was borded. River got onto the other ship and hacked into the comms. Working through a plan with each of us, all but the Doc.

The Doc... he's what's got my brain so muddled.

From what I heard out of River he did something to the hunter. All I know is one second I see him letting himself out of Serenity, the next he's clutching at his chest and collapsing. The boy got himself shot. And to top it all off his chest is a pattern of scars. All different shapes and sizes, and it looked as though none were caused by the same thing.

River didn't seem suprised to see them which just confused me further. She ran straight to the Doc rambling into his ear, then telling him off, and giving him a shirt.

The two had seemed to have a bit of a silent conversation before the Doc passed out.

Gorram it all, I hate having more questions than answers.

Zoe's P.O.V.

As I sit in the galley next to the Captain I think about Simon Tam. The ships resident doctor. The pansy ass Core boy trying to make his way in the Black all in the name of his sister.

What I saw today changed how I see him.

The scars on his chest are bad yes, but the ones on his back. Dear God. How has he been walking around like nothings wrong. It looked like his skin was flayed and pasted back together.

Seeing that I think, no I know that the Doc has another story to tell us... I'm just not sure I want to hear it.

Wash's P.O.V.

Simon, dear god...

My brain just keeps stalling on me. The kid is nice enough once you start to break through that layer of ice of his. But I never would have thought that those would be hiding beneath that last layer.

I now understand why he always wears shirts even when the rest of the guys have stripped them off, heck I've even seen Book without a shirt on once or twice.

I'm also starting to regret the way everyone has been treating him. I mean we all know that he's taking care of River but I guess we've never stopped to think about him.

Jayne's P.O.V.

I've seen some pretty messed up shit in my time. But it looks like someone fed Simon through a grinder and glued him back together...

I guess he's not the pansy I thought he was. I wish...no the boy wouldn't talk to me about that shit. He's barely started talking with me again.

Inara's P.O.V.

It looks like the Tam siblings have more secrets than what we've already uncovered.

Simon has always appeared to me as someone with greater depths than what all of us have been shown by him.

Simon's chest...someone was methodical about the damage they caused. Each type injury placed very specifically. Burns across his ribs, knife marks slashed across is abdomen, what look to be electrical scars across his pectoral muscles. But these scars were not made for an adult body though, they are old, they've grown for years it seems.

As a Companion I can't help but notice that Simon is very well muscled, that he is definatly more than just a pretty face. It looks to me as if he worked very specifically to build his muscle mass.

I want to think that he should have told us. But everyone on this ship has secrets that they do not want to share. It would be hypocritical of me. For if we demand the secrets of one, we must demand the secrets of all.

Kaylee's P.O.V.

 _Crying in her bunk, she tries to work through her mind how people could be so cruel. Thinking about how people took River and messed her up always twists Kaylee's thoughts. But Simon, they did the same to him didn't they, just not the same technique._

Thinking about Simon Kaylee comes to a realization. He never lets anyone worry about him. He always deflects it or becomes increasingly uncomfortable. He worries about everyone, all the time.

River's got her brain problems but Simon's makeing progress on helping her get better.

Captain, Zoe, and Jayne are always beaten, broken, and boody so he worried about him.

Wash and I always manage to injure ourselve some silly way or another. He always takes care of us. Seeks the both of us out because he knows we won't come find him should we hurt ourselves. We just brush it off as something silly and go about our business.

He takes such good care of all of us, but who takes care of him. _This particular thought made the tears flow harder_

Book's P.O.V.

The atrocities of man, I thought that I was done being suprised by them at my age. Apperently I was mistaken.

That boy and his sister...

The two of them seem to have been put through more than any one person could handle and stay the same. Yet neither of them could possibly be the same as they once were.

River taken from her home at 14, because she was brilliant, to have her brain toyed with. She struggles to stay in one piece. And we just had a discussion on her Reading abilities. She sees and hears to much and she can't block it out.

Simon found out his little sister was being hurt, and dropped everything to save her. The scars look older than two years though. They happened before River went to the Academy.

 _This realization disturbed the Shepard. Because it means that they where likely to have been inflicted by his parents._

Author's Note

The Characters belong to Joss Whedon.


	4. Simon and Mal POV Questions

Simon's P.O.V

As he woke Simon reflected on what happened. Getting shot, not so bad, in the grand scheme of things. But getting shot, by a crazed bounty hunter searching for my sister in nothing but my sleep pants, after I attacked him is just shiny.

It's one thing that River's secret cannot remain her own. Her's is something that everyone can see. Plus there was the whole federal agent and Kaylee being shot fiasco.

But this, this is something that I never wanted the crew to learn.

As I lay still on the hard bed in the infirmary, I think about how to get out of telling the crew about what happened. But knowing them, they'll push for answers and it'll get them off of my back sooner if I just give them some sort of answer.

Working this out in my head I almost missed River slipping into the infirmary. "He worries. She understands, it will be difficult but he will be okay. Crew of Serenity thinks of how they have misjudged him. They know the girl has problems, but they never thought he did too. Here they come."

Giving me a serene smile, she kissed my forehead and danced away before anyone came to the infirmary.

Meaning that I was prepared to see everyone on Serenity, excluding River, press into the infirmary. Time for the interrogation.

Mal's P.O.V 

Walking into the infirmary, I'm struck by how tired the Doc looks. Like he's running on empty and it's been that way for awhile. His eyes are sunken like he hasn't been sleeping. This just adds to the confusion.

"You got something you're wantin' to tell us Simon?"

If I had been standing farther away from the foot of the infirmary bed I wouldn't have hear the soft groan escape his lips before he opened his eyes.

"Not paparticularly, but do I have much choice in the matter seeing as you've decided that you need to know?" Was his reply, sound defeated. A sound I had yet to hear from the boy and I instantly decided that I didn't like it.

"Now don't go making this out to be some sort of interrogation. You got the right to keeps things to yourself. But we're asking if you'll shed some light on this."

I watched as the boy repositioned the bed so it was more of a chair. Once that was done he sighed and pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it in his lap.

"I might as well tell you enough to keep you from prying." As he runs his hand over the blade marks and burns, I can tell he's trying to decide where to start.

"Before I say anything I want to ask all of you a question. You don't necessarily have to answer aloud but I would like you to think about it while I talk."

At my nod, he continued. "Do all of you think that my life in the Core was all roses and money?" Now that is an odd question...not particularly out of place but odd just the same.

But it did get me thinking, and from the looks on the faces of everyone else they were to. Coming to the conclusion of Yes that is pretty much what I think of ths Doc.

" My sister and I were polictical and social statments for our parents. We were toys to show off at parties. River and I were often left on our own. The Governesses gave up because we knew everything they tried to teach us, and the nannies left us alone. When my parents were home they had strict rules. They were to be followed and if they were not we were punished, each infraction had a different punishment."

I don't think I like where this story is going, but I wont interrupt.

"River hates rules always has, and I used to always want to find little ways to get around them. River was caught once I'm sure you've seen the scar running across the back of her left leg." Not giving us a chance to answer he continued.

"After that I couldn't let her get hurt anymore. So I took the blame, I made sure it looked like me who had broken whatever rule she had. Father was different with me than he was with River though. He used a hot skewer to draw the lines across my ribs. His favorite decorative knife to cut my abdomen. And his favorite, creating the perfect electrical charge to damage specific areas."

With that it seems that Simon is finished speaking because he pulled his shirt back over his head.

That is until Zoe said "That explains your front, but what about your back?"


	5. Author's Note

So I officially have no internet at home and have started working two jobs, I will try and update when I can, but I want you to know that I am still writing, updates might just be slower.


	6. Questions Answered, Questions Asked

"Ma jung hwa! What do ya mean his back Zoe?"

Mal had decided that since it looked like ths boy was finished speaking, then he'd leave well enough alone. But then Zoe had to go a say a thing like that.

Simon just sighed. He had frozen about halfway through putting his shirt back on when Zoe spoke up.

After giving Simon what could pass as an apologetic look, at least for Zoe that is, she spoke up. " The Doc's got what looks like whip marks all over his back. Looks to be layers upon layers of 'em."

"Some of them can't be but a few months old, barely healed at all." Wash spoke up for his wife.

" Simon you want to tell me what in the dìyù they're talkin' about?" Less asking then when they all arrived in the infirmary, now demandog answers.

Sighing Simon pulled his shirt back off, shifted the table so the back of it was down but remained sitting.

"Go ahead might as well, you've seen the front might as well get it over with."

Slowly the rest of the crew circled the infirmary to see what had Zoe and Wash so spooked.

Horror, and dismay flooded through every member of the crew.

Kaylee started crying and ran off saying she couldn't listen to another explanation if it was anythin' loke the first.

Inara's Companion mask broke, letting a solitary tear travel down her face.

Book was horrified and disappointed in whoever did this.

Jayne and Mal were both a study of stone masks. They were both hard on the boy because of their assumptions. Both regretting their actions.

With a voice not quite as steady as he would have liked Mal spoke first. "You gonna tell us what happened boy." Not even pretending to ask anymore.


End file.
